Poverty sucks!

Yes, I know we haven't managed to call a halt to global warming or to force governments and industries to make serious changes.

But trickle by trickle, there has been a shift in opinion -- and with 20,603 blogs participating last year with 23,327 posts reaching an approximate readership of 14,631,038 -- who can say blogging wasn't a significant part of that shift and didn't make a difference?

So - this year the focus is on poverty.Check the site here.Watch the video.Click the links.Register your blog.Get involved.

So far, 3,591 blogs are registered, with a readership of 7,243,768.Can we make a difference?If there's even the slightest possibility that you could improve life for a single person, can you justify NOT taking part?

To start the ball rolling here's a single anecdote.

When I lived in Grenada, there were days when there was barely enough food for a single meal.I always shared what I had with the neighbourhood kids - I could never forget that I was living in that way through choice.I could always wave my passport and leave if things got too bad.

One day, I had nothing.No food for me and nothing to share.It was the children who told me the strategy.'Drink lots of water,' they told me. 'It will fill your belly and the hunger won't be so bad.'

Our world is rich.There's more than enough to go round.Only there are many who have a surfeit and many more who have nothing.No child should have to know a strategy for dealing with hunger.

Click here to see how Blog Action Day (and you) could make a difference.

6 comments:

How can you say "No child should have to know a strategy for dealing with hunger." Do you prefer them clueless to the crisis coming down upon us all. 'T'would seem the surfeit has left some a bit isolated from needing to be ready for survival despite a caring heart.

Debi, the plenty to go around is the cause of too many to feed. The world food bank and most everyone else thinks the artificial existence of silos of food are man's god given right, as your fury seems to indicate you do too. For every agribusiness that justifies destroying oxygen replenishing forest we get no closer to enough for everyone since more food makes more hungry mouths to feed, and on and on. If individuals do not take the responsibility of growing their own gardens they may be running after the same air-dropped dinners as they are in the Sudan right now. Or not.Poverty and hunger only show up where western civilization rearranges indigenous peoples out of their naturally evolved life styles.

One of those misunderstandings that happen so easily on screens, Yodood. I agree 100% with your final para.

I don't think we disagree with one another at all - my apologies if I've been less than clear.

By 'more than enough to go round' I wasn't referring to mono-crops and multinational agri-businesses. I was referring to more intelligent use of existing resources (which would lead to less profits for the big boys which is why it won't happen until there's no choice).

And this discussion is all good and is what Blog Action Day is all about ie stimulating the debate, so thanks for contributing.